


Dawn

by Ninja_Librarian



Series: Shidge Month 2018 [30]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Day 30: Escape, F/M, Rescue Missions, Shidge Month 2018, a little angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 12:40:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14497206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninja_Librarian/pseuds/Ninja_Librarian
Summary: While on a disaster relief assignment, the Paladins find a small child buried in the rubble. Can they save the child in time?





	Dawn

Shiro gazed around at the destruction, heart breaking at the wailing of grief and pain in the distance and the sight of people calling out for loved ones while shifting through the rubble of the village.

The efforts, he was sure, were for naught. They had been going through this village for three days now, and he didn’t think there was a chance for any more survivors.

Made him wish that he was home, and could pull his kids into his arms and hold them tight and never let them go, as if his embrace would protect them from disasters thousands of lightyears away.

“Thought once the war was over, we’d stop seeing stuff like this,” Hunk commented beside him, expression grimmer than Shiro had ever seen. Shiro had no doubt in his mind that Hunk was also thinking about his wife and kids, waiting on Earth for their return.

They were on the planet Fawnaia, which was a part of the Voltron Coalition; the planet had experienced sudden, world-wide earthquakes, which were quickly followed by mudslides, fires, and sinkholes. Allura had immediately called on the Paladins for an emergency assignment, launching rescue missions, evacuating, bringing in supplies, and guiding the disaster relief process.

Shiro paused suddenly, a sound pulling him out of his thoughts. “Hunk, did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Hunk asked.

Shiro held up a finger, listening.

Then, miraculously, heart-jarringly, he hear the sound again.

The blood drained from his face as he looked at Hunk, whose eyes widened. “Is that…?”

Shiro cupped his hands to his mouth, calling out, “EVERYONE QUIET!”

The sounds of the people searching stopped, looking at him in confusion.

Then, in the quiet, there was the sound again, slightly louder and clearer.

The sound of a baby crying.

Immediately, the searchers realized what was happening and started moving towards the crying.

There was a child. Somehow alive.

Listening closely and carefully, everyone moved around. Shiro paused at hearing the sound coming near his right, rushing towards the ruins of a house.

“Hunk, heat sensor?” He called over his shoulder.

Hunk rushed over, bringing up the scan. He sucked in a breath, showing Shiro the results, a small red and orange ball buried within rubble and mud. “This is the place.”

“Allura, we need back-up, now,” Shiro said in this his comms, dropping to his knees, searching for an opening. “We think we found a survivor, a small child.”

“Sending Pidge and Keith your way now,” Allura responded. “I’ll send a medic along as soon as one is available to assess the child.”

Shiro half-listened, dropping to his knees, crawling around, looking for a hole or something. He finally found one, shining the light on his gauntlet inside.

Two pale pinpricks gleamed back at him, and he could see the child inside. He couldn’t tell the gender due to the low-light, but he could tell that the child was about the size of a human one-year-old, eyes watery. He swallowed as he saw a female body beside the child, completely still.

“I found the opening!” Shiro called behind him. Then, when Hunk arrived, he said, “Do a heat scan again from this angle.”

Hunk didn’t question the reasoning, he just did so, confirming Shiro’s suspicions.

The child’s mother had protected her baby the best she could. She had succeeded, her baby was alive.

But at the cost of her own life.

“How stable do you think this is?” Shiro asked Hunk.

“It needs reinforcement,” Hunk said. “Won’t know for sure until Pidge gets here. She’s got that drone that can go in and take a better look.”

Shiro nodded, keeping an eye on the baby.

Soon Pidge and Keith arrived. They sent in Pidge’s drone, studying the images that came back.

“It’s starting to give,” Keith said, scowling at the displayed video images. He pointed. “See, there’s cracks.”

“We need to reinforce it long enough to get the kid out of there,” Shiro said. “I don’t think going in there is a good idea, so we’re going to have to lure the baby out.”

“Hunk and I will figure out how to reinforce the top, you two figure out how to coax the kid closer,” Pidge said before she and Hunk ran off.

Shiro pulled aside a local and asked him to peer at the child. 

“How old do you think they are?” Shiro asked him. “Old enough to eat solid food?”

“More along the lines of gnawing and learning to eat solids,” The male said. “Why?”

“The kid has been down here a while, and is probably hungry.” Shiro said, already going through the pockets on his belt. “So food will be a good motivational tool.”

Shiro unwrapped a ration bar and got back on his belly, sticking his arm in with the ration bar out-stretched, making sure that light could still get in so that the baby could see the food and the people outside but, more importantly, Shiro could see if the baby was making any movement towards him.

To his relief, the baby—still whimpering slightly—moved closer, leaving behind their mother’s corpse.

“That’s it, baby, you’ve got this,” Shiro told them. “Just keep crawling…”

Shiro’s eyes widened, though, at watching helplessly as the rocks and rubble suddenly crumbled without warning, falling behind the baby. Fortunately, it was all behind the child, but as the dust cleared the child’s cries grew louder. Not cries of fear alone, though. Cries of pain.

“What happened?” Hunk asked as he and Pidge rushed up, various pieces of steel and wood in their arms.

“They’re stuck!” Shiro said in a panic. “The rubble fell on the baby’s foot!”

Pidge immediately dropped everything she was holding and, to the surprise of everyone, began stripping off her armor.

“Pidge, what are you doing?” Keith asked.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Pidge snapped as she took off her chest plate. “I’m slimming down.”

“What?” Shiro said, glancing up at her before glancing back at the hole and the crying child.

“I’m the only one who is small enough to possibly get in there, and I can’t do it in armor,” Pidge said, kicking off her greaves. Her eyes had a determination that Shiro was very familiar with. “I’m not leaving here until that kid is out.”

Shiro’s heart was pounding. But he moved aside so Pidge could take his spot.

Pidge got on her belly, bayard in hand, then took a deep breath, closing her eyes.

 _Help me out here, girl._ She pleaded with the Green Lion.

When she opened up her eyes, she could see perfectly into the cavern without a light.

Pidge crawled into the small tunnel, squeezing and trying to stay as flat as possible. She crawled and wiggled her way towards the baby, who was still making small cries and whimpers of pain. Her purple eyes glowed and looked up at Pidge almost pleadingly.

Pidge carefully cut the rock with her bayard, trying to ignore the creaking and rumbling above her head. “It’s alright, baby,” She cooed at the child as they whimpered when Pidge freed their foot, which was most likely broken. “Let’s get you out of here.”

Pidge used the cord of her bayard’s grappling hook to wrap around the child’s waist, carefully shuffling backwards, pulling the baby along with her.

Pidge felt relief upon feeling hands on her ankles, tugging her out, because she couldn’t tell how close they were to the entrance.

The world around her became dark, the night-vision the Green Lion had given her disappearing as she and the baby were pulled into the light to a great amount of cheering.

She had barely sat up, pulling the baby into her lap when Shiro got on his knees and hugged her tightly.

They held onto each other and the baby equally; they had all escaped disaster. They were able to save one small life in the midst of so much loss.

They didn’t even realize how much that moment would be the dawn of a new stage in their lives.

*****

“I am never going on a supply run again, all the action happens while I’m gone,” Lance said as he crouched down in front of the toddler—a little girl, they now knew upon seeing her in the light and taking her for medical treatment, her little foot bound up in a plaster cast and an IV drip providing her fluids and pain medicine. She was currently perched on Pidge’s lap, one fist curled around her shirt. Since her rescue, she wouldn’t let anyone but Pidge or Shiro hold her and clung to the two equally.

She was a rather cute little thing. Like the rest of her species, she looked almost human, with her copper-colored skin and soft black curls and cute little button nose. Some of her features, however, were more deer-like. Her limbs were longer and thinner, and she had patterns on her skin made up of bright white spots and stripes, including some dotting on her cheeks like freckles. Her eyes were lilac, and she had small, soft, velvety buds of antlers underneath her curls as well as a small, fluffy brown-and-white tail.

Lance offered his finger for the baby girl to take and she glanced up at Pidge, who nodded, before looking back at Lance’s finger and taking it, clenching a fist around his finger. “Quite a grip you’ve got there, little lady. You’re tough stuff.” Lance looked up at Pidge. “Does she have a name?”

Pidge shook her head. “Locals don’t name their children until they’re about five. But the Grand Leader has his people looking to see if they can find any surviving family. Her mom… Well, her mother’s body has not been recovered yet.”

Lance nodded, then stood up, wincing slightly as joints popped. “Eh, getting too old for this…” he commented before taking a chair opposite the bed Pidge was sitting on with the baby. “Keith filled me in on what you did, but Hunk swears Shiro’s got a dozen more gray hairs now. But that’s amazing, Pidge. What you did was amazing. You’re amazing.”

“I guess the Mama Bear in me just came out,” Pidge said, gently stroking the baby’s curls. She shook her head. “Poor baby. We have no idea how long she was down there completely alone. Doctor says she’s lucky, that she is a fighter. We wouldn’t have found her otherwise, and she is so dehydrated.”

“Fate’s got something special planned for her, that’s for sure,” Lance said. He smiled some. “Hey, maybe she’s one of our replacements. Maybe someday she’ll be yelling ‘Form Voltron!’ in a way that will make Shiro cry with pride.”

Pidge smiled, pressing a kiss to the baby’s head. “Or maybe she’ll be creating her own upgrades for the Green Lion.”

“So long as she shares with her teammates,” Lance said. “No fair if Green gets all the cool power-ups.”

“You hear that? Uncle Lance is jealous,” Pidge told the baby in a sing-song voice.

“Excuse you, Blue is perfect exactly the way she is. She will slay no matter what. Upgrades are just the equivalent of getting her a new pretty dress or pair of earrings to show that we acknowledge and appreciate her,” Lance said. He reached out and gently bopped the baby on her good foot. “And don’t you forget that, okay?”

The door to the room opened and Shiro walked in along with Allura and one of the Grand Leader’s aides, who looked grim.

Lance greeted Shiro and Allura, but then offered to step out for them to talk once the aide revealed that she was there to discuss the baby’s family.

“We were able to find a surviving family member, an uncle, her mother’s brother,” She explained. “We have already been in contact with him. However… He lost his wife in the disaster, and one of their children was seriously injured and needs special care. In addition, there are four other young children. He said that he was willing take her in, but was concerned about being able to provide her the care and support she needs as well as meeting the needs of his own family, especially now with a disabled child and only one income which is now especially limited.” The aide took a deep breath, gazing sadly at the child, who was now sleeping against Pidge’s chest. “So we will have to put her in an orphanage for the time being.”

Pidge swallowed hot tears, a difficult feat with the lump in her throat.

She looked over at Shiro and saw the same expression on his face.

They locked eyes.

And they knew. They knew without saying the words, without having even thought the words until this moment.

Shiro looked at the aide. 

“What would it take,” He said. “For Pidge and I to adopt her?”

*****

Shiro stood on the Bridge, baby on his hip as they watched the stars pass, as they got closer to Earth.

Her lilac eyes were wide with wonder, her hands reaching out to grab at the passing stars.

Shiro smiled and kissed her head, glancing beside him as he felt Pidge’s arm wrap around his waist.

“How do you think Hoshi, Hikaru and Skylar are going to respond to having a new sister?” She asked.

“Hoshi will be thrilled to have someone else to boss around,” Shiro said. “Hikaru will act indifferent at first but adore her. And Skylar will try to play dress-up immediately. Honestly, I’m more interested in the responses of our parents learning they have a new grandchild.”

Pidge grinned, leaning against Shiro’s side. “We always do seem to come back from space with surprises.”

“Yeah, but never a whole child before.”

“Spice of life, keeps us all young. And, if nothing else,” She looked up again at her husband and new daughter. “I think they’ll agree. This was one of the best decisions we have ever made.”

Together, the three of them watched as Allura landed the Castle on Earth.

Pidge put her hand on the baby’s knee and Shiro gave her another kiss.

“Welcome home, Aurora,” Shiro whispered. “Welcome home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well. Here we are. Day 30 out of 30. It's been an awesome month. I've loved being able to share something everyday, and cannot thank enough everyone who has read, left kudos, commented, reblogged, liked, bookmarked and created art for my stories! You all are awesome and amazing and I couldn't have gotten through all this without your support! Thank you all so much, and I hope you've enjoyed Shidge Month!


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